They're cold-blooded mammals that live underground in big colonies run by a queen.

彼らは冷血な哺乳類であり

They almost never get cancer and they can survive for 18 minutes with zero oxygen.

女王が経営する大きなコロニーの地下に住んでいます。

They lose consciousness, and their heart rate and breathing slow way down.

癌になることはほとんどありません

But as soon as oxygen is available again, they perk right up.

酸素ゼロの状態で18分間生き延びることができます。

A mouse, on the other hand, lasts about a minute.

意識を失い、心拍数が低下します。

Researchers at the University of Illinois-Chicago, along with colleagues in Europe and Africa, used a variety of metabolic tests to figure out what was going on.

とゆっくりとした呼吸をしています。

In low-oxygen environments — pretty common underground — mole rats can change their energy metabolism in all their crucial organs, so they don't need oxygen.

しかし、酸素が再び利用できるようになるとすぐに

They switch fuels, like a hybrid car.

彼らはすぐに興奮します。

Instead of glucose metabolized with oxygen, they use fructose and metabolize it without oxygen.

一方、マウスは約1分持続します。

Knowing more about this metabolic trick might one day help in treating heart attacks and strokes, where a lack of oxygen is a killer.

イリノイ・シカゴ大学の研究者。